Qatari

ARTICLES ABOUT QATARI BY DATE - PAGE 3

LONDON: Qatar is using the Arabic TV news channel Al-Jazeera as a bargaining chip in negotiations with other countries, US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks suggested on Monday. Despite the broadcaster's insistence that it is editorially independent, the channel is "one of Qatar's most valuable political and diplomatic tools," according to the cables. The Gulf state -- which last week controversially won the right to host the 2022 football World Cup -- adapts Al-Jazeera coverage to suit other foreign leaders, claimed the cables revealed in Britain's Guardian newspaper.

LONDON: Harrods, the landmark store that's almost a Mecca for many Indian tourists in London, has been sold by Egyptian owner Mohammed Al Fayed to the Qatari Royal family for ?1.5 billion. Mr Al Fayed, the father of Diana in the historic car crash, is probably best known for his continuing and ill-fated campaign to prove foul play in the death of his son. Mr Fayed, it is reported, intends to retire after 25 years as chairman of Harrods, and has agreed to the sale to Lazard declined to confirm the value of the deal which was reported by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)

Dubai is really happenin' these days. Again. A little controversy may end up being good for business. For years it was the mecca for shoppers from the subcontinent , even though the Indian government was wary about some of its less savoury denizens who set up home and headquarters there. Fortuitously, the iffy credentials of that bunch were later offset by some more acclaimed names who bought into the Dubai story ? quite literally ? and put their palm-prints on reclaimed real estate there.

DUBAI: Qatar has evinced interest to invest in the Indian infrastructure sector, especially the power segment, and both countries will look at collaborations in the area, a newspaper report has said. According to the report, a delegation from India will soon visit Qatar to discuss prospects for investment. "There are Qatari interests in India's power sector and very soon we will be able to see (announcements)," India's Ambassador to Qatar Deepa Gopalan Wadhwa said, while addressing a meeting of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI)

Hounded out by bigotry and endless court cases, India's best known artist may soon no longer be an Indian. Maqbool Fida Husain has been conferred an honorary Qatari citizenship. If he chooses to accept, he will have to surrender his Indian passport and renounce his Indian citizenship. News of Husain's new nationality created ripples in the art world and triggered anger over the government's failure to bring home the artist who was forced to flee India in 2006 and flit between Dubai and London as criminal cases -- filed by fringe Hindu extremist groups alleging he had defiled deities by depicting them obscenely -- piled up in Indian courts.

The cascading impact of global meltdown has been felt in many countries but there are a very few countries like Qatar where it is business as usual. Qatar, with proven gas reserves of over 900 trillion standard cubic feet in its north field, and oil reserves of over 15.2 billion barrels, has one of the fastest growing economies and highest per capita incomes in the world. No wonder the rulers are laying much thrust on improving infrastructure for allround development. Qatar is a peninsula of 11,437 sqkm located halfway down the west coast of the Arabian Gulf.

DOHA: A top Qatari energy official says OPEC is watching the market closely and is prepared to cut output further to halt the slide of oil prices when it meets next month. Mohammed Saleh al-Sada, Qatar's minister of state for energy and industry affairs, says the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries "will respond appropriately" to the rapid drop in oil prices. Speaking to reporters today on the sidelines of a conference in Doha, al-Sada said "if there is a need, actually, to go down, they will not be hesitant to reduce it further.

DUBAI: Scandal-hit Satyam Computer Services has said it will go ahead with its plans to establish a wholly-owned branch in Qatar, it was reported here on Friday. Satyam Head (Asia Pacific, Middle East, India and Africa) Virender Aggarwal, is quoted to have told the Gulf Times that the company is committed to customers in Qatar. Satyam Computer Services has already received the first clearance from the Qatar government for branch operations in the country, Singapore-based Aggarwal told the newspaper.

DOHA: Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani said on Monday he believed that between $70 and 90 would be a fair oil price for a barrel of oil. He was speaking at a news conference after talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is touring the oil-rich Gulf trying to attract extra funding for the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "The price level we think is a fair is $70 to 90 price," he said, speaking in English. "We wish that we had fixed price but that's a market.

LONDON: Barclays will receive a "rescue package" of more than two billion pounds (3.2 billion dollars) from the Qatar Investment Authority, boosting their stake in the British bank, a report said on Sunday. QIA, which already owns an eight-percent stake, will take up high yielding securities that will pay a relatively high rate of interest, The Observer weekly newspaper said. "A deal that could be announced in days will see the Qataris subscribe to one billion pounds worth of new loan stock with another one billion pounds being taken up by Barclays' existing institutional investors," it said.